--- Mark's Japan Trip February 2013 ---

Ok guys. Thought I'd start a Japan trip thread since I got most of my ideas from Japan Trip Diary threads on this forum.
Especially when it came to things car related.
And it was such a great help to me so hopefully mine can help others in the future wanting to do the same.
=)

Firstly, I'll do a quick copy and paste from my car diary thread to save some time here at work.
I'll get around to uploading some more photos and will update when I find more time to kill at the office (maybe today since it's Friday? hehehe)

Well viewers.

I recently went to Japan.
And OMG !
Such a great experience.
If you know me, you know I've been around the block a few times. And for the very first time, on the first day actually, I was in another country and said, "I could actually live here".
The country, the culture, the food, the cars, the car scene and the people themselves made me fall in love with Japan !

I will definitely be back.

Anyway, thought I'd share some car related photos.

I may do a Japan thread, especially since I looked through a lot of them on here to get an idea of what I should do on my visit.

On with the photos.

Super Autobacs.
This was quite the place to be. In all the threads I viewed, everyone said they were here for hours. And now I understand why. We spent an hour or so in the carpark alone! LOL The shop is HUGE. Super Cheap Auto on steroids is a way to describe it. Only with a lot more products and all of them way way cooler with brand names we all know and love.

Me being an excited litle girl.

Some of the wheels available for purchase.

Spoon and Type One Garage

One of the ultimate workshops for Honda fanboys. Which include me! hehehe
This was an EPIC place to see in the flesh finally. You can't do much in here but look around, shop, take photos, chat to the friendly staff in broken english and wipe the drool off your chin.
Even though that's all you can do. I think we were here for about An hour and a half LOL

Again, being very excited lol

At Type One Garage

Auto Messe

I spent my birthday here. It was like a car show I've never been to before.
The size of it was HUGE. The cars on display were just beautiful. There were J-Pop stars performing all day. The food hall, yes a hall just for food, smelt like heaven! The models were very entertaining too LOL. And even the designated smoking area was a must see! LOL
A great way to spend my birthday
=)))

Finally saw one of these in real life lol

Me and my mate Orido hehehe ( Was such a little nervous girl seeing him lol)

Toyota Mega Web
This place I looked up before leaving as again I saw it in a Japan Trip diary thread on here. And low and behold, it was just a 10 minute walk away from the hotel!
Again, this place was amazing (just like all of Japan lol), you could check out Toyota's full range, play car games, ride on a VR machine and visit the History Garage.
All of it for FREE !!!!!

Big signage outside to make sure you don't miss it.

My ultimate Japanese classic !
Toyota 2000GT

Nissan Gallery
This place is in Yokohama. So if you go to Daikoku Futo you best make sure you drop into here too. I got taken here unexpectedly by a friend of mine. It was a very nice surprise to see !
Again, a lot of Nissan's lineup is presented here. But also showing, are current race cars, race cars of the future and race cars of the past. The time I went had a RC display and races on. So it was cool watching that too.

Yeah I like pointing at signs lol

Because race car.

Daikoku Futo!

This place is truly amazing. I had such an awesome, fun and humbling experience here.
None of which I would not have had, had it not been for the people I met there.

Every JDM car nut must go here at least once to see the vast array of cars that come in here.
And every other car enthusiast must come here at least once to witness what kind of atmosphere we should all strive to achieve. No hating, no weird looks. Just people of all different walks of life all sharing one passion in such a friendly and inviting way.

I have so many pics, none of which will look good to anyone but me lol
So I'll post one for now.

I'm not sure how to go about posting pics, on what people want are after and what they want to see so I guess I'll start from the beginning.
And if something comes up that someone is interested in I can jump back or forth in the time line.

Anyway the actual reason why I was here was for a work conference. Being Japan and all I I decided to see if anyone else would like to extend their trip after the conference was over. Unsurprisingly, there were a few interested people
=)
It was also the time around my birthday so I would've done it anyway had no one wanted to join me lol

First up is Narita Airport.
This is I think, one of two international airports located near Tokyo. I say near but it was about an hour bus ride away from the hotel. So not to far-ish.
Even here you instantly notice the differences. Like:
- The monstrosity of the place. Just like Hong Kong airport there is a train to catch if your plane is in another terminal;
- The bright coloured signs everywhere; and
- How everything looks so modern and much much newer.

One of the first things I ate in Japan.
Ever seen a razor sliced sandwich? hehehe

Public toilets. They only ever have one or maybe two of these in there with the rest being the "normal" toilets we're used to.
And I have seen photos of these before but when I walked into the airport bathroom I was still surprised to see it in here.
Note - cleanliness. It will be a common thing you see in my pics. Japan is a VERY clean country. =)

View from my hotel balcony. 18th floor. We stayed at the B Conti Serviced Apartments located in Ariake. It was quite a nice hotel and wasn't as small as I though it would be going by other Japan Trip threads.
I even had a king sized bed !!!
Now, you won't be able to see it in the photo, but on the far right is the Wangan Motorway. I didn't discover this until a few days later but it was the source of sweet sweet music to my ears every night (and sometimes even day). Every night, without fail, you would hear some sort of big horsepower machine doing some sort of speed run up the Wangan. The echo the sound would produce was something special. Although, not all of my colleagues thought the same lol

When we first got to Ariake it seemed quite dead. Not many people around, etc. But since it was also a business park I figured that's why it felt deserted. However we soon figured out there were shopping centres, restaurants, etc within the building that had plenty of people.
Anyway, this was a nice park near our hotel. Building in the background became one of my favourite buildings in Japan. Next time I will remember to take a look inside lol

Quick stroll towards the building and BAM!
Cosplayers.
They were so friendly. They let you take pics of them and with them.
It was quite a sight to see.

Continue along the walkway and you'll soon realise that if this same thing were in Sydney it would be littered, have bums, and generally not have the same sort of atmosphere as this.
One of the reasons why I fell in love with Japan

Random picture of dogs in prams hehe

The monorail platform.
This was a pretty cool train as it had no driver and you could sit right up the front and take in all the action
=)

Rainbow bridge. Epic bridge. Long as a mutha and at the end it would spiral down into the streets and the freeways.

The famous Hachiko dog statue. If you don't know the story about it. Google it. It's quite a story.

Shibuya crossing.
Was so happy to finally see this in the flesh. Every single time it was this full. It looked amazing at night. I'll upload a pic of that later.

My first eatery in Japan.
Here you would order on the outside. Select your meal and a ticket would pop out.

Reading this has got me so pumped for May when I go! Although I won't get to do much car related stuff, I'm still so excited

Good to hear my thread is having the same effect on someone as the others did on me. Even before I had any actual plans to go ahead it would already stir me to make sure I eventually organise something.
And don't fret if you don't do any car related stuff. I did only because I had been reading and seeing pictures about these places for a long time that I just had to see these places for myself. It's like finally seeing my own unicorn! hehehe

Originally Posted by Cess

Great thread, great reading. Post pictures on everything. Keen to see more!

Thanks Cess. I wasn't sure if I should type so much but if it is 'great reading' I'll take that as not boring lol
I can't post everything though. There are simply too many pictures lol

Originally Posted by sugz

Nice thread!
Keen for more pics and story

Thanks for the love !
Will definitely post some more and write out a story to go with it. I will try to make it no so long winded though lol

Just came back from the dentist for the half yearly check up and with crap weather still outside I'll post up a few more now.

Well before I go on, I should mention that I was very fortunate to have my sister present me with an early birthday gift before leaving for J-Land.
She was quite sneaky in how she went about it aswell making me watch a feature video and then BAM, presents me with it at the end of the video lol
This camera is awesome ! Just watch the video to see. I can put a sim card in it too lol
It's hard to figure out what it wants to be. A camera and then an Android device, or an Android device and then camera lol
web link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SYMXxTNbUc

One of the sights I grew accustomed to on the driver-less train / monorail.
It was amazing to see how "ship like" this building was. I think it was a maritime museum.

Riding on the trains and first thing I notice are the JDM hang rings. There are all types of these. I reckon a mate of mine John would have wanted to get him this one since it's so rotor like lol
I had to explain to my colleagues why these were a wanted item to "JDM car fans". It felt weird, and also kinda lame, explaining it and I could've sworn for the rest of the trip the would slightly watch me in case I was going to try and get one for myself LOL

One of the many different types of vending machines in Japan. This one was for drinks only.
Two things to note here. The blue strip indicates a cold drink. The red strip indicates a hot drink.
And for me there was a third thing to note here aswell. No BOSS Coffee. I had seen in another Japan thread on here that they kept drinking it, I think it was Kevin's, and I just had to try it! LOL
Next time.

Around Sydney (maybe Australia?) you'll notice the advertising trucks that drive around.
Well they have those in Japan too. This one in particular had music blasting out. Hopefully I'll remember to post the rest of these that I saw around the joint. Even these were interesting to see (well to me anyway lol)

Takeshita Street.
Another thing I would see in a lot of Japan threads. This street was packed to the sh1thouse. To be honest not much time was spent here. It was just to crowded.
We walked down. Walked into a couple of shops. Found a laneway to smoke in and left.
I should note that it is worth walking down this to see it for yourself and also see the odd-ball (to Westerners anyway) Japanese characters.

Just an entrance to shopping centre that I thought looked pretty cool

View from the bridge that overlooks the station to the left and Takeshita Street on the right.

Also, if I state something in here that I thought I learnt correctly but you know is otherwise. Please correct me.
=)

Torii Gate near Takeshita street.
This was huge and there were maybe 2 or 3 more on the path towards the Temple.
I think Torii gates are used to signify that you are entering or are about to approach a sacred area.

Water cleansing.
The Japanese would wash their hands and sometimes their face with this water. One stupid American I witnessed, took a ladle, sipped the water, and spat back out.
I wanted to punch him in the face.
Especially when there were instructions on what to do posted on the wall.
Idiot.

On approach to the temple.
Note cleanliness and size of the place.

Temple itself.
Pretttyyyyy.

You may have noticed a big tree in the previous picture.
Here you can buy a plank of wood and draw/write a message. The tree supposedly could send the message to whomever for it to be granted.

Found this funny considering we were on conference hehe

One way of busking.
This guy was funny at first but then started to freak us out. He would turn his head very slowly and even pointed at my friend. She screamed lol

JDM ambulance.
The sirens on these, and other emergency vehicles, sounded like a tsunami warning. Nothing like our emergency vehicles here.
They would also yell out through the megaphone on approach to traffic and pedestrian crossings to politely make their way through.

My friend, ok I did too, saw this girl in a taxi.
Decided to test out the zoom on the camera. It came out pretty good.
And i'm just posting this just because. lol

Oh yeah. I was also there for a work conference.
Here is where it was held. It is called Tokyo Big Sight.
This place was massive and luckily only a 5 minute walk from the hotel.
Doesn't it look like it would transform and take over the world? hehehe

Close up view of Tokyo Big Sight from a viewing deck.
Note - Again, it seems deserted. But there were plenty of people inside.

The view if I turned around on the viewing deck.
What you don't see is to the left is a wharf with ships and cranes. Made for a nice picture. I should probably load that one up too. lol